One year out from the midterm elections, the Democratic Party holds a sizable enthusiasm advantage as views of President Donald Trump dip further into negative territory, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS.
The fall of 2025 is not a replay of 2017, the year before the Democrats captured control of the US House in Trump’s first term. The Democrats’ 5-point advantage among registered voters in the generic congressional ballot falls short of the 11-point edge they held in CNN polling a year before the 2018 midterms. And favorable views of the party still stand near all-time lows as they have throughout this year, 8 points below where they were in the fall of Trump’s first year in office.
In a midterm election year, though, views of the president can outweigh perceptions of the opposition party. Trump’s approval rating in the poll stands at 37%, the worst of his second term in CNN polling and roughly equivalent to his 36% approval rating at this point in his first term.
And his disapproval rating, at 63%, is numerically the highest of either term, one point above the previous high of 62% as he was leaving office in January 2021.
CNN’s Poll of Polls average, which puts Trump’s approval rating a few points higher at 41% as of Sunday, charts a similar trend since January. Approval of the president has dipped across partisan and demographic lines since the summer in CNN’s polling.
Looking ahead to next year’s midterms, Democrats appear to have a very early advantage: 47% of registered voters say they’d vote for the Democrat in their district if the election were held today, while 42% prefer the Republican. More say they’ve ruled out supporting a Republican (42%) than say the same about a Democrat (35%). And 41% say they would be sending a message that they oppose Trump with their vote, nearly double the 21% who say their vote would be a message of support for the president. Independents break in Democrats’ favor on the generic ballot (44% to 31% for Republicans, with 19% saying they wouldn’t pick either right now).
Registered voters who are Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents are far more likely than Republican-aligned voters to say they are extremely motivated to vote next year (67% compared with 46%). Those Democratic-aligned voters who consider the state of democracy to be a top concern are perhaps the most fired up within the party: 82% in that group say they are deeply motivated to vote, compared with 57 % among Democratic-aligned voters who call the economy their top concern.
CNN’s poll results suggest that the Democratic Party’s ongoing internal image troubles may not necessarily translate into defections at the ballot box. Democratic-aligned voters remain far less fond of their own party (65% have a favorable view of the Democratic Party) than Republican-aligned voters (80% have a favorable view of the GOP), but even those Democratic-aligned voters with a negative view of the party are almost universally behind the Democratic candidate in their district (93%) and broadly motivated to vote (71% say they are extremely motivated).
All told, Democrats hold a 12-point advantage among those voters who say they are extremely or very motivated to turn out next year.
Broad dissatisfaction with Trump and the country
Americans are broadly dissatisfied with the state of the country (68% say things are going badly) and the economy (72% say it’s in poor shape, and 47% call the economy and cost of living the top issue facing the US). About 6 in 10 (61%) say Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions in the US.
Roughly 8 in 10 consider the federal government shutdown a crisis (31%) or a major problem (50%), and 61% disapprove of Trump’s handling of it. Nearly as many disapprove of the way each party’s congressional leadership is handling it (58% disapprove of each). Taken all together, about 9 in 10 American disapprove of at least one of those three players on the shutdown.
A majority hold negative views of Trump’s performance on several other key issues: most (56%) feel that his foreign policy decisions have hurt America’s standing in the world and 57% say he’s gone too far deporting immigrants living in the US illegally.
About a quarter of Americans (26%) say the state of US democracy is the top issue facing the nation, and it is the top issue among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (45% say it’s the most important issue, with the economy and cost of living at 38%).
Americans are increasingly likely to say Trump has gone too far in using the power of the presidency – 61% say so, up 9 points since February. On his teardown of the East Wing of the White House, 54% of the public is dissatisfied or angry, with just 10% saying they’re satisfied with or happy about that decision. Another 36% (including nearly half of Republicans) say it doesn’t matter much to them.
Most Americans also see the Republicans who control Congress as doing too much to support Trump (55%, up from 48% who felt that way in February). But the GOP base is pleased: Republicans and Republican-leaning independents are largely satisfied with the level of support the GOP in Congress provides to Trump (63% say it’s the right amount, about the same as in February).
On the Democratic side, though, views are more divided and party support less clear. Four in 10 say the Democrats in Congress aren’t doing enough to oppose Trump, and among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, 69% feel that way.
The CNN poll was conducted by SSRS online and by phone from October 27 to 30 among a random national sample of 1,245 adults, including 954 registered voters. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points; it is plus or minus 3.6 points for results among registered voters.
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